Vending-machine.



C. FORTH.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented Jan. 14,1913.

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(LPORTH. VENDING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1908.

Patented J an. 14, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CDLUMBIA PLANDORAPH 60., WASHINGTON. D. c.

(LFORTH. I VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1908.

1,050,267, Patented Jan. 14,1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH CO.,WASHINGTDN, D. c

UNITED SATES ATENT OFFTQFE.

CHARLES FORTH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

VENDING-MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES FoRrrI, citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VendingMachines, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to vending ma chines of the type in which thearticles to be vended are stored in a holder or magazine from which theyare discharged by mechanism controlled in its action by the insertion ofa coin.

The aims of the present invention are to produce a device of thischaracter which will be simple and durable in construction andoperation, and which will be compact in form and will occupy littlespace, so that it may be adapted to localities where the space for suchpurposes is limited.

The invention consists in various improved features of construction andarrangement of parts which will be fully described in the specification,and their novel features pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a front elevation on a reducedscale of my improved vending machine. Fig. 2 is a front elevation on anenlarged scale of the back or sustaining plate and the attached parts,the front inclosing casing being removed. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ofthe same. Fig. 4 is a similar View from the opposite side. Fig. 5 is avertical longitudinal sectional elevation of the complete device fromfront to rear. Fig. 6 is a similar view with the parts in the positionthey occupy when delivering an article or package. Figs. 7, S, 9 and 10are horizontal sectional plan views on the correspondinglynumbered linesof Fig. 4. Fig. 11 is a horizontal sectional plan view showing how theinserted coin operates to release the delivery drawer. Fig. 12 is a planview of a detail. Fig. 18 is afront elevation of another detail.

Referring to the drawings: the operative parts of my improved device areinclosed in a casing comprising a back or sustaining plate 1, and afront inclosing portion 2, which parts are preferably separable fromSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 4, 1908.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913. Serial No. 465,944.

each other in order that access may be had to the interior. In the upperpart of the casing is mounted a vertical magazine or holder 3, open atthe front, and of the crosssectional form illustrated in Fig. 7, inwhich magazine the packages or articles 4 are stored, one upon the otherin column, and urged constantly downward by a weight or follower 5,resting on the top of the column. This magazine is fixed by suitablemeans at its lower end to the back plate 1, and is open at this point sothat the articles may pass downward and outward therefrom. Arrangedimmediately beneath the lower end of the magazine is a delivery orejecting device 5, in the form of a horizontally sliding drawer mountedbetween the side walls of the casing to move back and forth through anopening in the front portion of the casing, and suitably supported andguided in its movements by the upper end of a frame or block 6, fixed tothe back plate 1, and exposed at its front through an opening in thefront portion of the casing.

The delivery drawer is provided at its rear end with laterally extendingpins 7, extending respectively in slots 8, in the upper ends of two arms9 and 9, pivoted near their lower ends on a horizontal transverse rod10, sustained by ears 11 depending from the block or frame 6, which armsare connected by a transverse plate 12 to maintain them in fixedrelations to each other, and to cause them to move in unison. The lowerextremities of these arms are acted on by the forward ends of spiralsprings 13, whose rear ends encircle pins 14 extending from the backplate and by their expansion tend to hold the delivery drawer in closedposition, as shown in Fig. 5. The arms 9, and 9 are locked in theirrearward position, to hold the drawer closed, by means of a lookingdevice adapted to be actuated to release the arms and drawer, by theinsertion of a coin of the proper dimensions through a coin slot 15 inthe front of the block or frame 6. This locking device for the drawerarms is in the form of two hori zont-ally movable locking latches orbolts 16 and 16, which, as shown in Figs. 3, t, l0 and 11, are m0untedto slide in guiding openings formed in the block 6 near its back, thelatch 16 being adapted when projected, to extend in front of the drawerarm 9, and the latch 16 when projected being adapted to extend in frontof the drawer arm 9, by which means the arms will be prevented frommoving forwardly and will consetnicntly prevent the drawer from beingpulled out. The latches are engaged and operated by fingers or tumblers17 and. 17, which are adapted to cooperate with the in serted coin insuch manner that when the latter is pushed into the coin slot, thelatches will be retracted and will release the drawer arms. Toeffectthis action, the tumblers are arranged horizontally within ahorizontal slot in the block (3 at opposite sides of the coin slot andpivoted each between its ends, on a vertical pivot pin 18, the forwardends of the tumblers being arranged in the path of the incoming coin,while their rear ends are interlocked with the latch bolts by beingpassed through openings therein. The rear extremities of the tumblersare acted on by the outer ends of spiral springs 19, whose inner endsbear against the block 6, and by their expansion the springs tend tourge the rear ends of the tumblers outwardly, the latch bolts projected,and the front ends of the tumblers in the path of the incoming coin, asshown in Fig. 10. Yi hen now a coin is inserted in the slotand pushedback by the finger, the edge of the coin engaging the forward ends ofthe tumblers, will spread them apart, thereby moving their rear endsinwardly toward each other and retracting the latch bolts from in frontof the drawer-arms to the position shown in Fig. 11, the coin in themeantime being held by the tumblers with its rear edge against a stoppin 20, fixed to the block 6, and in vertical alinement over a verticalopening 21 in the block, which opening forms a continuation of the coinslot. The drawer is now free to be drawn outwardly to deliver thelowermost article of the column, which article had been seated in thedrawer, shown in lJ-ig. 5. its the drawer is pulled forwardly it acts todislodge the coin held by the tumblers and discharges the same into acoin receptacle 22 in the bottom of the casing, which receptaclecomn'iunicates with the vertical opening 21. This action is effected bymeans of a cylindrical plunger 22-3, mounted to move vertically in avertical guiding opening in the block (3, forming an. upwardcontinuation of the opening 21, which plunger is acted on by a spiralspring 91''} ei'icircling the same and seated at its lower end againstan annular surrounding shoulder 25 on the block 6, and the upper end ofthe spring bearing against an annular shoulder '26 on the upper end ofthe plunger, the upward movement of the plunger under the influence ofthe spring being limited by a horizontal pin 26, fixed to the block, andextending inwardly in a vertical slot 27 in the plunger. At its upperend the plunger is provided with a beveled projecting pin 28 extendingnormally 'n the path of a beveled shoulder on the under side of thedrawer, the arrangement being such that when the drawer is movedforwardly the shoulder thereon will engage the pin, and the beveledsurfaces cooperating the continued movement of the drawer will dopressthe plunger against the upward pressure of its spring and will cause itslower end to engage the coin held between the tumblers and dislodge thesame, forcing the coin downwardly into the coin receptacle beneath theopening 21.

On the return of the drawer to its former closed position, which actionis effected automatically by the springs 13, the arms 9, 9, in movingback past the latch bolts, which had been released by the disledgnientof the coin from between the tumblers, and had been projected by thesprings 19, will automatically force said latches inwardly, the outerends of the bolts being beveled to admit of this action, and as the armsfinally pass behind the bolts, the latter are projected by their springsin front of the arms and act to lock them against forward movement.

In order that the drawer may be subjected to a locking action when it ispartially closed, so that the delivery of a second article may beprevented by successive actions of the drawer after being once leased bya coin, l. so arrange the parts that one of the locking latches willcome into action before the other and when the d wer is but partiallyclosed. This is preferably effected. by forming in one of the arms, inthe present instance arm 9, a recess 3 the effect of which is to disposethe forward end of the arm at. this point in a plane rearward of theforward edge of the other arm, with the result that the locking latchacting on arm 9 will be allowed to be projected in front of it beforethe other latch will be projected in front of the other arm, therelation of the parts being such that this projection of the latch ofarm 9 will talre place before the drawer has returned far enough toallow a aackage from. the column to drop therein. it is seen, therefore,that even if the drawer received a second pact from the column beforebeing completely closed, it could not be drawn forward to deliver thepackage, as such action would be prevented by the projection of thelatch in front of arm 9, and this arm would be locked against forwardmotion.

in order that as the drawer is pulled outwardly to effect the deliveryof the article therein, the latter be coin enientlv removed by thepurchaser, provide means whereby the article will be partially liftedfrom the drawer, as shown in Fig. 6. This is preferably effected byproviding in the bottom of the drawer, a tilting tray or frame 30 of Uform, as represented in Fig. 8, with its rearwardly extending limbs 30'pivoted at their rear ends by horizontal pivot pins 30* to the bottom ofthe drawer at its rear end, so that the opposite end of the tray mayswing upwardly, the form and relation of w the tray to the drawer beingsuch that the package within the drawer will rest on and be supported bythe tray. The side limbs of the tray are inclined or. beveled on theirunder sides, as at 31, Fig. 4, which beveled surfaces are adapted, asthe drawer is pulled out, to engage fixed pins 32, extending upwardlyfrom the upper surface of the block 6 at its front, the result beingthat the continued movement of the drawer will tilt the tray upwardlyand elevate the article sustained thereby to the position shown in Fig.8, with its forward portion above the top of the drawer, where it may beconveniently grasped by the fingers of the purchaser and readilyremoved.

The parts are so related and arranged that when the drawer is in itsoutward position with the article partially elevated, as shown, theupper edge of the article at its 31) rear will stand close under theupper edge 33 of the opening in the front of the casing, and the lowerforward corner of the article will extend close to the upper forwardedge of the drawer. As a result of this relation .5 of the parts, if thepurchaser releases the drawer before removing the article therefrom, thesudden inward movement of the drawer under the influence of the springs13 will act to carry the upper surface of the article against the edge33 of the easing, before the article has had time to descend with thetray free of said edge, the result being that the tilted article will bepushed slightly forward on the tray and over the forward edge of thedrawer, and

as the inward movement of the drawer continues the article will bewedged in between the forward edge of the drawer and the upper edge 33of the casing opening, and in this manner will form an obstruction tothe further closing movement of the drawer. The amount of inwardmovement permitted before the article obstructs the drawer is notsufficient to bring the locking latch of the arm 9 into action, so thatthe purchaser may again pull the drawer out and remove the article.

In order that the use of an instrument, such as a knife blade, or thelike, to separate the tumblers and thereby release the delivery drawermay be prevented from becoming effective, I propose to provide meanswhich will cooperate with the blade or other instrument in such manneras to prevent the drawer from being pulled out far enough to deliver anarticle. This device is preferably in the form of two fingers or plates83, Fig. 12, fixed at their rear ends to the front of the plunger anddiverging forward and outward therefrom, and adapted as the plunger 7omoves vertically, to move with it in vertical guideways or slots in theblock 6. The forward lower edges of these plates, when the plunger is inits elevated position, as shown in Fig. 5, will just clear the upperwall of the coin slot, so as not to interfere with the insertion of acoin, but when the plunger descends these plates will be projecteddownwardly across the coin slot immediately in advance of the forwardends of the tumso blers, as shown in Fig. 10, thereby obstructing thecoin slot. As a result of this construction if a blade or otherinstrument be inserted in the slot and engaged with the tumblers so asto spread them apart sufl'i- 85 ciently to retract the locking latchesand release the drawer, any attempt to pull the drawer outwardly wouldresult in the engagement of the beveled shoulder on the drawer with thebeveled pin on the plunger, and would tend to depress the plunger, butthe descent of the plunger would be prevented by the engagement of thetwo diverging plates 33 with the blade or instrument in the coin slot,and under these conditions the 9 beveled pin on the plunger, remainingin the path of the beveled shoulder on the drawer, would act as anobstruction and form in effect a lock to prevent the drawer from beingWithdrawn far enough to deliver an article. 109

In the outward movement of the drawer to deliver the article therein,the lowermost article in the column, that next to be delivered, rests onand is sustained by the sides of the drawer, and in order that when this195 support is removed as the drawer reaches the extreme outward limitof its movement, the package may be prevented from dropping down behindthe same, the drawer is provided on its rear end with a horizontal 119lip 35, Fig. 6, adapted when the drawer is fully open to extend asufficient distance rearwardly beneath the column of articles to supportthe same and prevent the lower one from falling.

For the purpose of obstructing the coin slot when all the articles havebeen delivered from the magazine, so that no more coins may be inserteduntil the supply of articles has been replenished, I provide means 120whereby the fingers 33 will be automatically projected across the coinslot when the last article leaves the magazine. This may be effected bymeans of the follower 5, which for this purpose is provided on itsbottom with a pin 5 resting on the top of the column, and adapted whenthe last article passes from the magazine, to extend through an opening36 in the bottom of the drawer and engage with the upper end of the bev-139 eled pin on the plunger, thereby depressing the plunger and causingthe diverging fingers 33 to descend and project across the coin slot.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing adapted to hold thearticles to be vended and provided with a coin slot, a delivery device,a swinging arm sustained by the casing and connected with the deliverydevice so as to be swung when the delivery device is operated,retract-able means acting directly on said arm and serving to lock thesame against movement and thereby prevent the action of the deliverydevice, and means arranged adjacent the coin slot in the path of thecoin, said means being adapted by the insertion of a coin to be actuatedto release the arm-locking means.

2. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing adapted to hold thearticles to be vended and provided with a coin slot, a delivery device,swinging arms pivoted to the casing and adapted to be swung by themovement of the delivery device, retractable locking latches adapted todirectly engage with the arms and lock them against movementand therebyprevent the action of the delivery device, and means arranged adja centthe coin slotin the path of the coin, said means acting on the lockinglatches and adapted by the insertion of a coin to be moved thereby andrelease the latches.

3. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing adapted to hold thearticles to be vended and provided with a coin slot, a delivery device,swinging arms mounted on the casing and adapted to be swung by theoperation of the delivery device, retractable locking bolts cooperatingwith said arms to lock them against action, and movable tumblersarranged adj acent the coin slot in the path of the incoming coin, saidtumblers engaging the locking bolts and moved by the coin to retract thebolts and release the arms.

4. In a vending machine the combination of a casing, a magazine thereinfor the articles to be vended, a delivery device mounted in the casingbeneath the magazine, the said casing being provided below the deliverydevice with a coin slot, and a member interposed between the deliverydevice and coin slot and adapted to be actuated by the movement of thedelivery device to dislodge the inserted coin.

5. In a vending machine the combination of a casing provided with a coinslot, a magazine therein for holding the articles to be vended incolumn, a horizontally movable delivery device mounted in the casingbeneath the magazine, and a vertically movinsane? able plunger mountedin the casing between the delivery device and coin slot, and adapted bythe movements of the delivery device to be depressed and to dislodge theinserted coin.

6. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing for storing thearticles to be vended, and provided with a coin slot, a deliverymechanism movable to discharge the articles and retractable to receivethe next article, a locking device adapted to come into action and lockthe delivery mechanism when the same has been partially retracted, andmeans arranged adjacent the coin slot and adapted to be operated by theinserted coin for releasing the locking device.

7. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing to hold thearticles to be vended, and provided with a coin slot, a deliverymechanism movable to discharge the articles and retractable to receivethe next one to be delivered, two locking devices adapted to becomeactive in succession as the delivery mechanism is retracted, one of saidlocking devices arranged to lock the delivery mechanism when partiallyretracted, and the other arranged to lock the delivery mechanism whenwholly retracted, and means arranged adjacent the coin slot and adaptedby the insertion. of a coin to be actuated to release the lockingdevices.

8. In a vending machine, the combination of a casing provided with acoin slot, means in the casing for holding the articles to be vended, adelivery device movable to deliver the articles, a movable membernormally disconnected from and adapted to be engaged by the deliverydevice and projected into the coin slot, and means arranged in the pathof the incoming coin and adapted to be operated. by the inserted coinfor con trolling the action of the delivery device.

9. In a vending machine the combination with a casing provided wit-h acoin slot, of means in the casing for holding the articles, a deliverydevice movable to deliver the articles, a movable plunger arranged inthe path of the delivery device and adapted to be moved by the action ofthe delivery device, a depending plate carried by the plunger andadapted when the latter is moved to project into the coin slot, andmeans arranged adjacent the coin slot and operated by the inserted coinfor controlling the action of the delivery device.

10. In avending machine the combination of a casing provided with a coinslot, means in the casing for holding the articles to be vended incolumn, a follower adapted to rest on the column and acting to urge thearticles constantly downward, a delivery device movable from theposition beneath the column to deliver the articles therefrom, a membersituated between the delivery device and coin slot and movable acrosssaid In testimony whereof I aflix my signature slot, means carried bythedfollower and in presence of two Witnesses.

adapted to act through the elivery device to move said member across thecoin slot to CHARLES FORTH obstruct the same, and means operated byWitnesses: the inserted coin for controlling the action FRANK G. PARKER,of the delivery device. JOHN BUOKLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

